National news

Officials: NSA surveillance blocked terror plots

Data helped foil plots in the U.S., more than 20 countries

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The U.S. government was able to stop potential terror plots under the National Security Agency’s controversial data-collection programs, according to media reports on newly declassified information released over the weekend.

Plots were thwarted in the U.S. and in more than 20 countries, according to a document made public Saturday by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Reuters

The National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Fewer than 300 phone numbers were checked against a database of millions of raw U.S. phone records collected last year, according to the document.

The NSA officials argued the programs have been far less broad than alleged, and the circulation of the information was seen as an attempt to counter accusations of overreach.

No details on the plots or countries involved were part of the document. Officials said they will declassify the plots they said were foiled to show the value of the program.

The programs were reviewed every 90 days by a secret court authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the officials said. Data is destroyed every five years.

The newly released documents come a week after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden emerged as the source for stories in The Washington Post and The Guardian about the surveillance programs, which collected data from leading Internet and phone companies.

Snowden is in Hong Kong, where activists have demonstrated this weekend in Snowden’s support.

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